Road Report: Cubs Finish up 11-Game Road Trip at West Michigan

South Bend finished up their bizarre road series Sunday in Lake County, going 1-4 in a series that featured three rain delays, two suspended games, and a cancellation.

With 24 games to go the Cubs find themselves 7.5 games back of Peoria for the final playoff spot in the West. Reinforcements have joined the team in the last two weeks including the likes of 1st round pick Matt Shaw and 3rd rounder Josh Rivera, plus two promoted starting pitchers from Low-A in Grant Kipp and Nick Hull, additionally the Cubs saw the return of Kevin Alcántara who was activated this past Friday and played his first game since July 19 in game two of Sunday's doubleheader.

Now the Cubs will make the short drive north to Comstock Park to take on arguably the hottest team in the Midwest League: West Michigan. The Whitecaps began August with a 5-game sweep of the Captains and with their 3-2 win at Great Lakes on Sunday, they're coming off a 4-2 series victory over the postseason bound Loons. In August the Whitecaps are 9-2.

The Whitecaps have been buoyed by their potent offense all year which ranks first in the league in batting average (.248), second in OPS (.727), second in slugging (.390), third in on-base percentage (.337), and fourth in homers (87).

A massive cog in the heart of their order is gone in Jace Jung, who was promoted to AA Erie right after the Cubs and Whitecaps completed their series three weeks ago. But this team hasn't broken stride, in fact they're playing their best baseball since.

Who to look out for on West Michigan...

Jackson Jobe, RHP: Last year in a series chalk full of top-end prospects, we saw Jobe’s debut in the Midwest League firsthand. Currently the No. 3 rated Tigers prospect, a 6-foot-2 right-hander was taken with the third overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft. His fastball and slider combo is lethal and was on full display that night vs South Bend. On the 20-80 grade scale his fastball and slider grade out at 65, while his cutter and control clock in at 55 and 50 respectively. He suffered lumbar spine inflammation in Spring Training but returned to action in June. He began his rehab with one appearance in the Florida Complex League and then six starts in the Florida State League with Lakeland. In his return to the FSL he dominated with a dazzling 2.25 ERA. Jobe rejoined West Michigan on July 25 and now will make his seventh High-A start overall, and second vs the Cubs. On August 27 last year Jobe went five innings and allowed one run on four hits vs South Bend.

Troy Melton, RHP: Melton dominated in both of his August starts so far and at this point of the month is 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA. In 11 innings this month the former fourth round pick last year from San Diego State has not walked a batter and has accumulated nine strikeouts. After starting seven games with Lakeland and getting a promotion, he’s been even better in High-A. In the FSL the righty managed a 3.38 ERA, and with West Michigan in 12 outings he’s stymied opponents with a 2.05 ERA and .209 batting average against. The former Aztec faced South Bend on July 21 and took the loss, going 4.2 innings and allowing three runs. He will look for revenge this week as the cubs gave him his first and lone professional loss.

Gage Workman, SS: It certainly hasn’t been the 2023 that the fourth rounder out of Arizona State had envisioned. The 23-year-old drafted in 2020 was a high school teammate and still a close friend of Brennen Davis. Workman began 2023 in AA with Erie but in 51 games batted below .200 and struck out 74 times. Not every player deals with a demotion well, however since his demotion to West Michigan on July 20, he’s been scorching hot. In 21 games he’s batting .325 in the MWL with a .843 OPS. He’s still only walked six times over that stretch and been punched out 27 times, but something has clicked and through two weeks in August the left-handed hitter is raking to the tune of a .385 average.

Who to look out for on South Bend...

Matt Shaw, SS: I mean, wow! This kid is electric. Last week Shaw became the newly minted Cubs No. 6 prospect. In his first two weeks in High-A, Matt Shaw, the Cubs 1st round pick from this year and the number 13 overall pick in the draft, has been unstoppable. Thursday night he tallied his first homer with South Bend, as well as his first 3-hit game as a pro, and his first 3-RBI game in the minors. He finished a double shy of the cycle on the night and his triple and homer were near carbon copies of each other, low liners hammered to the opposite field down the line. In his next start he mustered up three more hits and in the series finale he homered for the second time in three games, again on a line drive smashed to right field. After two weeks he's batting .378 with a .703 slugging and a 1.113 OPS. There's no telling how long Shaw will be in South Bend, so you just have to stop and appreciate the incredible show he's putting on right now. It's only been two weeks, but it just doesn't feel like Shaw has much more, if anything, to prove in the Midwest League. The kid from Maryland is a special talent.

Moises Ballesteros, C: The 19-year-old catcher is now a top-10 Cubs prospect per MLB.com, clocking in at No.7. Ballesteros launched two homers last week, a towering blast to left-center and a herculean blast to right. His home run on Sunday gave him 11 for the season which set a new career high. Ballesteros played 56 games in Low-A this year and shined with a .274/.394/.457 slash line. The young catching prospect has statistically been the most productive teenager in the league and since the All-Star break he's batting .333 in 24 games with 18 RBIs, a .540 slugging, and a .924 OPS. Ballesteros is the best hitting catcher I've seen in my three seasons in South Bend and he's still just a teen. He plays with a quiet confidence and as a left-handed hitting catcher, his continued development could benefit the big league club greatly in a few years.

Yovanny Cruz, RHP: Cruz has always had a big-league build and arm, it's just been a matter of staying healthy. The injury plagued righty-hander is built like Emmanuel Clase and fires a killer fastball that sits in the high 90s. Last year Cruz was shutdown before the season ended and logged 13.2 innings with a 3.95 ERA. This year he began the year still on the 60-day IL and started a rehab on July 14 in the Arizona Complex League. After just 6 days there he was bound for South Bend and Four Winds Field. Since beginning his season late though, he's looked right in midseason form. After two scoreless outing with the ACL Cubs, Cruz has added seven more scoreless appearances with South Bend. On the year he's only one appearance shy of what he registered last year and he hasn't allowed an earned run yet in 10 innings.

Schedule….

Tuesday, August 15 - 6:35 ET |RHP Tyler Santana vs. RHP Wilkel Hernandez

Wednesday, August 16 – 6:35 ET | RHP Connor Noland vs. RHP Troy Melton

Thursday, August 17 - 6:35 ET | RHP Grant Kipp vs. RHP Garrett Burhenn

Friday, August 18 - 6:35 ET | RHP Brody McCullough vs. RHP Jackson Joke

Saturday, August 19 - 7:05 ET | RHP Luis Devers vs. RHP Dylan Smith

Sunday, August 20 - 2:00 ET | RHP Michael Arias vs TBA

Catch the entire six-game series in Comstock Park on Sports Radio 960 AM WSBT, online at wsbtradio.com, or on MiLB.com with Brendan King on the call.